So, I’ve recently started teaching lessons. I identify more as a student than as a teacher, so stepping into the role of instructor has been a peculiar and meandering process for me. I’ve avoided teaching in the past, not because I dislike it or lack the skill, but because to be a great instructor you need to be friendly and encouraging and have a way with words. By comparison, I am snarky and blunt and often in the heat of the moment just start yelling words and unintelligible phrases at students.

Yesterday I was hacking my 4-year-old gelding, Deep Woods, and I couldn’t stop thinking how wonderful he is. The weather has been awful here in Illinois so all the horses have been stuck inside for the past few days. We’d all been gone at a clinic over the weekend, so the horses that stayed home hadn’t been ridden. Woody, as he’s affectionately known, had every reason to misbehave, but he flatted around like an old schoolmaster.